Coronavirus ‘Incidental Cause’ of 49 Deaths in C. Visayas

The Department of Health (DOH)-Region 7 said 89 percent or 49 of the 55 fatalities are considered to have died with coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) as “incidental cause”.

In a report posted on Saturday, Dr. Eugenia Mercedes Cañal, DOH-7 Regional Epidemiology Surveillance Unit cluster head, revealed that the only six deaths or 11 percent in the region are considered Covid-19-related.

Although the DOH-7 provides no explanation, the report supported the observation of Governor Gwendolyn Garcia last week saying that many of the Covid-19 deaths in Cebu died with comorbidities like chronic kidney disease, acute renal failure, severe anemia, blood disorder, myocardial infarction, severe trauma due to accident, hypertension, septic shock and cervical cancer.

Garcia said only a few of the fatalities reportedly tested as Covid-19 positive had severe acute respiratory illnesses or influenza-like illness.

Earlier, DOH-7 regional director Jaime Bernadas and other health experts here said that 80 percent of the coronavirus-positive individuals have not manifested symptoms of Covid-19, such as fever, dry coughing, shortness of breathing, diarrhea and other illnesses.

“Most incidental deaths were from Cebu City and Cebu province,” Cañal said in her report approved by Bernadas.

Cañal’s report said coronavirus is merely an incidental cause of deaths of this city’s 25 patients which represent 45.4 percent of the total 55 deaths.

Also, 15 patients, or 15.27 percent, from Cebu province died with Covid-19 as incidental cause, she said.

The DOH-7 report did not show the actual percentage of the remaining 15 fatalities (39.33 percent), but its graph presentation shows a very low mark of Covid-19 as an incidental cause of their death.

Cañal’s report also shows that 71 percent of the total 2,693 “laboratory-confirmed” coronavirus disease recorded in the region from January 16 to May 28 have only spent treatment through home isolation.

She revealed that 1,911 were sent to home isolation after they were tested positive of coronavirus in their system.

About 15.3 percent or 412 of the 2,693 patients have already been discharged and 315 or 15.3 percent remain admitted at the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center (VSMMC) and other hospitals in Cebu.

Meanwhile, the DOH-7 explained that the “cases that were reported over the last few days reflect tests that were conducted days and weeks prior”.

“The reporting lag is due to delays in submission of results by laboratories and the manual verification process to ensure that each case is unique,” the DOH-7 statement said, adding the public can expect that the number of Covid-19 cases will increase in the coming days. (PNA)